JP2009-179010A discloses a thermal printer that includes a ribbon supplying shaft that holds an ink ribbon, in a rolled form, to be supplied to a printing unit and a ribbon roll up shaft that rolls up a used part of the ink ribbon. The printer performs printing by heating the ink ribbon and transferring ink on the ink ribbon onto a print medium. JP2009-179010A discloses a configuration facilitating an exchanging operation for the ink ribbon.